Good Point - How the 2004 Detroit Pistons live on today

http://thegoodpoint.com/2013/04/2004-detroit-pistons/

Movie Review - Terminator

  Terminator (1984)

Director: James Cameron

Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael Biehn, Linda Hamilton

Over the years, a debate has raged within me about which is the superior film: Terminator or Terminator 2: Judgment Day.  That debate has a personal significance for me exceeding the one between Godfather and Godfather II.  My opinion on the matter has flip-flopped a number of times over the years, but for the most part Judgment Day has gotten the nod as my preferred film (by a hair).  That isn't a knock against the first Terminator by any means.  T2 is probably one of my five desert island movies.  Meaning if I had to live the rest of my life with only five movies to watch, Terminator 2 would more than likely be one of them. Obviously, I regard T2 pretty highly.  In spite of that, though, Terminator is right there with it in my mind.  In other words, this is a really good movie.

Terminator hits a lot of my sweet spots as a movie lover.  To begin with, I can’t get enough of sci-fi flicks that take place in a dystopian future.  The 80's was a golden era for such movies, and Terminator is right there in the bleak, futuristic science-fiction movie Hall of Fame (along with other greats like Blade Runner and Escape from New York).  I also love slasher films (again the 80's being a particular era of worship), and the T-800 is essentially Michael Myers with an assault rifle.  I've never heard anything specific about James Cameron drawing inspiration from slasher films when he made Terminator, but it’s hard to believe he didn't,  especially given the popularity of that genre during this era.  The pattern is just too familiar (unstoppable, inscrutable killer picks off sinners one by one before finally being overcome by the innocent, seemingly fragile heroine). 

Finally, I adore B-movies.  And Terminator is very much a B-movie.  It’s a creature feature with a robot assassin standing in for The Creature from the Black Lagoon.  Stop-motion animation, gruesome makeup effects, and a shoestring budget are all qualities Terminator shares with contemporary B-movie classics like The Thing.  Of course, in 2013, it is eminently weird to think about “King of the World” James Cameron directing a B-movie.  In fact, the IMDb trivia page for this movie says Cameron was essentially homeless when he made Terminator.  Certainly, the alleged $6 million budget of the movie was probably exceeded by catering costs on the set of Avatar. 

But, as we all know, movies are like sports: the hungriest (both literally and figuratively) competitors tend to be the best.  And there is simply a passion for film making on the part of the director that is readily apparent in Terminator.  And one wonders to what degree Cameron possesses that anymore.  Like other directors, the quality of Cameron’s movies has generally decreased as the budgets have grown (see Lucas, George).  Also like other directors, Cameron seems as entranced by new technologies and actual film making equipment as he is with the art of film making (see Jackson, Peter). 

But Terminator will forever remain evidence of just how good Cameron can be when he is on.  The movie is perfectly cast (I continue to believe to this day that Arnold Schwarzenegger was literally born to play this role).  The action scenes are straightforward, yet innovative.  Die Hard gets a lot of credit for ushering in the modern era of action films, but every North American action movie that features a gun-toting, one-man wrecking crew owes a debt of gratitude to Terminator (and First Blood).  The story is intriguing (and one of the best time travel related plotlines ever), while not being confusing.  And, largely due to the incredible music and special effects, Terminator is tense as hell from beginning to end.  Not to mention the fact that Schwarzenegger is absolutely terrifying (something you can appreciate even more after the intervening thirty years of wisecracking, wink-and-a-smile Arnold we've come to love since.)

More than likely, James Cameron will never make another film as good as Terminator (or Aliens, or even True Lies for that matter).  But maybe that’s OK.  Most directors are lucky to retire with just one true classic under their belt.  Cameron has at least two, and perhaps more depending on how you look at it.  And producing films as mind-bending as Terminator, ones that are simultaneously genre-defying and genre-defining, may be best left to younger, "hungrier" filmmakers.  Yes, maybe James Cameron will never make another Terminator.  But we can hope.

Verdict: 9/10

Movie Review - Lincoln

  Lincoln (2012)

Director: Steven Spielberg

Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field, David Strathairn

The first thing that struck me about Lincoln is the impressive cast: Day-Lewis, Field, Jones, Spader, Gordon-Levitt. And the list goes on.  The movie is quite obviously Oscar bait:  a legendary director and a host of respected actors making a biopic usually screams Academy Award trophy (see Ray, Capote, Milk, etc.).  Unfortunately, Lincoln isn't as good as any of these movies.  Instead, it's a somewhat mediocre film made remarkable only by a handful of incredible performances

Foremost among those performances is obviously Best Actor Daniel Day-Lewis as Lincoln.  In modern-day Hollywood, a lot of actors are overrated.  And a lot of actors are underrated.  And then there is Daniel Day-Lewis.  An actor who has unofficially come to be considered our greatest living actor (with apologies to the twin towers of DeNiro and Pacino), and yet still manages to be evaluated appropriately.  Abraham Lincoln is a legendary historical figure, and yet there is a not insignificant chance that the man himself couldn't have lived up to the incredible portrayal of Day-Lewis in this film.  The Irish actor utterly loses himself in the role of Lincoln. And his passion, thoughtfulness, and intelligence are palpable in a performance that is just the right balance of forceful and restrained.  He is every bit as charismatic as the real-life Lincoln must have been.   

As good as Day-Lewis is though, the cast of veteran actors around him are not overshadowed.  Tommy Lee Jones is solid (although perhaps not quite as amazing as advertised), Sally Field is a revelation, and lots of others (David Strathairn, James Spader, Hal Holbrook, and Jackie Earle Haley among them) impress as well in the brief screen time that they have.  Unfortunately, one of the few not so strong performances is turned in by youngster Joseph Gordon-Levitt.  In his defense, the role of Robert Todd Lincoln is far from a meaty one.  The entire story line involving Lincoln's oldest son seems a little tacked-on, and JGL's appearances could all be described as alternately "angsty" or "whiny".  But Gordon-Levitt, for his part, doesn't do much to rise above the material.  

And the material in Lincoln is intrinsically flawed.  One trait that most Oscar-baiting films share is a sense for the dramatic.  They are emotionally overwrought, designed to pull on the heartstrings.  Lincoln has a little of that.  It is genuinely moving in parts.  But, by and large, it is emotionally vacant.  I respect Spielberg for not going the cheesy, tearjerker route.  But there is a balance to be found between cheese and genuine emotion.  And without the emotional heart of other Spielberg historical epics like Saving Private Ryan and Schindler's List, Lincoln just falls a little flat.  

Ultimately, the movie is sufficient, but a little boring.  Spielberg (and the cast, including Day-Lewis), obviously respect Lincoln and his legacy greatly, and they have succeed in creating what appears to be a highly accurate depiction of this period of Lincoln's life.  But I often felt as if I was watching a documentary.  That in itself not a terrible thing, but I think that movies should aspire to something more (particularly where a legend like Spielberg is concerned).  Overall, Lincoln is worth watching for the powerful performance of Day-Lewis alone.  And from a technical standpoint, the entire film is a triumph.  Just don't expect that sort of unforgettable emotional response that only the great films can truly deliver.

Verdict: 6/10

Walking Dead - Season 3, Episode 12 - Clear

The Walking Dead is a show that gets a lot of criticism for what it doesn't do well.  Unfortunately, being popular makes it an easy target.  The fact that seemingly everyone is watching this show and talking about it, coupled with with the fact it isn't the most highbrow entertainment out there (especially when compared to AMC counterpart Mad Men), means that detractors are especially eager to jump on the show when it's "bad".  If only those same individuals were as willing to give the show a little credit when it's good.

"Clear" is a very good episode of Walking Dead.  It succeeds on many different levels, and does a pretty good job of playing to the strengths of the show that many would deny even exist.  On first glance, the concept for this episode doesn't seem like a home run.  Most of the action this season has centered around Woodbury and the prison, and neither are present here.  Many characters that have been central to the action of this season (The Governor, Andrea, Merle, etc.) are nowhere to be found.  In fact, the only series regulars that appear at all are Rick, Carl, and Michonne.  Not the most likely of combinations, and not one that would seemed destined to produce much dramatic fireworks.  

But the producers took a risk centering "Clear" around these three characters, and it works splendidly.  One of the more underrated aspects of the show over the years has been the relationship between Rick and his son.  Granted, the Grimes family as a whole has been a little hit and miss.  Lorie was annoying from the start. Rick has often ventured into that territory himself.  And Carl may have been the worst of all until season three.  But the relationship between Rick and Carl has always rung true, and there is an understated, yet effective, chemistry between Andrew Lincoln and Chandler Riggs.  That chemistry is one reason this episode works.  

I mentioned earlier that Carl ceased to be annoying in season three.  Indeed, I would actually go so far as to say that his improvement as a character has been the one of the highlights of this season thus far.  There aren't a lot of great child actors, and I don't think Chandler Riggs is one of them, but he has grown as an actor, and his portrayal of Carl has been solid.  He is quite good in "Clear", too.  Given the established chemistry of Lincoln and Riggs, throwing Michonne into the mix is an interesting decision, but I like it.  

For a show with a fairly large ensemble cast, Walking Dead has a tendency to get stuck in a rut in terms of what characters are interacting with each other.  Lost would often have those random episodes where two characters who don't normally run in the same circles would be thrown into a mission together.  "Clear" reminds me of the Walking Dead equivalent of that.  The result is that a character like Michonne has a chance to shine in this very focused episode.  The introduction of the Michonne character was one of the most highly anticipated events of season three, and it's safe to say her character been somewhat of a flop overall.  But she is humanized a bit in this episode, and it isn't a coincidence that she becomes much more interesting as a result. 

So "Clear" works because of the compelling relationship between Rick and Carl, and because Michonne is the most intriguing that she has been in some time.  But it also works because of the way it incorporates the lore of the show.  The Walking Dead isn't the most dense show out there; it's no Game of Thrones in that regard.  But we are three seasons deep now, and it was fun to revisit some of the character(s) and locales from previous episodes.  It gave some insight into how far we've come (and how much Rick and Carl have changed, for better or worse).  One area that Walking Dead has always excelled has been it's relative lack of dead ends from a story line perspective.  Certainly, that is one by-product of not being a very dense show, but it is impressive nonetheless.

Merle, Sophia, now Morgan, all these characters seemed like they were gone for good at some point, only to wander back into the action and receive a proper send-off.  Other, superior shows like The Wire and The Sopranos struggled with unresolved story lines (Lost goes without mentioning).  The Walking Dead should receive credit for excelling in that area.  Unfortunately, not every episode can be like "Clear" or the main story would never progress, but the show could learn something going forward from the hyper-focused approach of this episode.  We can also only hope that Michonne will continue to become more interesting and live up to her promise as a character following this breakout episode.  Either way, after a relatively quiet entry like "Clear", and with only a few episodes remaining in season three, things should pick up considerably in the next episode.  It should be exciting.  

Movie Review - Django Unchained

  Django Unchained (2012)

Director: Quentin Tarantino

Starring: Jamie Foxx, Cristoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio

Maybe the biggest mistake I made prior to seeing Django Unchained was that I watched Pulp Fiction the night before.  With regards to Tarantino flicks, Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction are easily my favorites, and I believe those two movies stand head and shoulders above the rest of his oeuvre.  Watching Pulp Fiction reminded that that movie was a masterpiece and Tarantino hasn't come close to touching it since.  By comparison, Django couldn't help but fall a bit flat.  It isn't bad, but isn't great.  I'm surprised the movie was nominated for Best Picture, but that is probably an indication of how much sway the production company responsible for it holds, and also what a relatively weak year it was for movies.

Watching Pup Fiction and Django back-to-back also really reinforced for me how Tarantino has evolved as a filmmaker.  In the beginning, his movies were mostly serious works with wacky, exploitation elements mixed in.  Around the time of Jackie Brown (the worst Tarantino movie by a mile, most would agree), he switched over to just making exploitation films.  With a requisite sense of irony, of course.  Kill Bill (the last Tarantino movie I truly loved), was also the last one to balance these elements effectively, I thought.  The movie was violent, over-the-top, and ridiculous, but the story was actually pretty heartfelt, and there were some genuinely sincere and moving moments.

Since then though, starting with Inglorious Basterds (which I thought was overrated), and continuing with Django, Tarantino has continued to dial up the ridiculousness and, in the process, lost some of the heart that made his earlier movies so captivating.  Django is actually the silliest Tarantino movie ever.  It ventures further into the realm of pure slapstick comedy than any Tarantino film before it.  And it is legitimately very funny.  There were plenty of scenes that had me laughing out loud. I can also appreciate the irony of Quentin Tarantino making comedy out of a subject as serious as slavery.  But overall, I think that Django fails to be more the sum of its parts.

There are times when it is hilarious, and there are times when it is terrifying, or heartbreaking.  But the movie fails to take all these elements and capture the kind of overall cohesiveness that made Pulp Fiction so great. Django movie just doesn't click the way great movies do.  Overall, I consider it a collection of really great scenes that fails to add up to a great movie.  A good one, sure, but not a great one.  It doesn't help that Tarantino, like many great directors, could really use an editor.  Often times, when a director gets famous beyond the point of anyone being able to tell him how or what he can cut, his movies start to take on a bloated feel.  This movie is pushing the bounds of the three-hour mark, and there were tons of go-nowhere scenes in Django, that, if cut, may have made things flow somewhat better.  When the action goes to the Candyland plantation in particular, the story starts to drag quite a bit before picking up again and ending on a high note.

The pacing may leave something to be desired, but one thing I can't praise enough about Django is the performances.  Through some mastery, Tarantino has coaxed incredible performances out of a variety of different actors over the years, and Django continues in that grand tradition.  I found it interesting that Waltz won an Academy Award for his performance here because, although he was impressive, I found his performance to be, at best, the third-best in the film.  Samuel L. Jackson and Leonardo DiCaprio are incredible.  In particular, I think this may be the best performance of DiCaprio's adult career, and it's a shame he wasn't acknowledged by the Academy.  The degree to which those two completely threw themselves into what were no doubt very difficult roles is truly admirable.  Django, in true Tarantino fashion, also features tons of cameos from notables like James Remar and Walton Goggins, who are all great.  Jamie Foxx is solid, too.  He is very charismatic and really sells the transformation that his character undergoes throughout the film.

Overall, Django Unchained is a fine movie worth watching, but I can't help but feel that Tarantino is capable of so much more.  As much as I would love to see the director continue to make these altered history movies where he rights all of history's wrongs (Jews kill Hitler in Basterds, slave kills slavers in Django), I hope that he purses some different material with his next film.  I would like to see the director let Kill Bill, Inglorious Basterds, and Django Unchained stand as his own "vengeance trilogy" (along the lines of Park Chan-wook), and hopefully move on to new, more inspired material.


Verdict: 7/10

Good Point - Allen Iverson and the Troubling Non-Retirement

http://thegoodpoint.com/2013/04/allen-iverson-retirement/

Walking Dead - Season 3, Episode 11 - I Ain't a Judas

Several episodes in Walking Dead season three have seemed a little filler-y at times, but "I Ain't a Judas" is the first one I can remember in quite some time that is nearly all filler.  That doesn't mean it's a bad episode.  Overall, it's pretty average.  Not destined to rank among the great, memorable Walking Dead episodes, but also not terrible enough to be truly regrettable.  It just kind of is.  One thing the creators of the show have become pretty skilled at is delayed gratification.  Just when I think I know what's going to happen next story-line wise, Walking Dead loves to pump the brakes.  And "Judas" is a prime example.  

I was certain this episode would begin or end with The Governor knocking down the gates of the prison with tanks and an army of gun-toting Woodbury denizens.  We didn't get that, but we did get, in the grand tradition of Walking Dead forebear Lost, an Andrea-centric episode.  Now, Andrea is, for me, a character who has vacillated between tolerable and despicable throughout the course of the show, never quite managing to rise to the level of likable   She is kind of the last guard of truly meh Walking Dead characters after the chaff-eliminating campaign the show has been on as of late (looking at you, Lori).

Andrea may not be the most exciting character (or fifth-most exciting character) on the show, but "I Ain't a Judas" manages to be a not terrible episode in spite of that fact, which is probably saying something.  "Judas" is short on truly memorable moments, but it does feature the return of Tyreese and crew (who apparently left the prison at some point? I must have missed that scene) and a burgeoning relationship between Merle and Herschel (who can't that guy become a father figure to?).  Reunions also abound as Carol and Daryl share a tender moment, and Andrea is reunited with everyone. 

The latter reunion fizzles just a bit because the prison crew have known for some time that Andrea was in Woodbury, and, vice-versa, Andrea has known about Rick and company as well.  Thus, when the groups finally do meet, it smacks more of "hey, it's you" than "emotional reunion".  I do realize that some aspect of that was by design in order to illustrate that Andrea is now an outsider to Rick and his people, but I just felt the scene lacked a needed emotional punch.  Of course, it was dynamite compared to the meeting of Andrea and Michonne, two characters who are supposed to share some special bond but have all the chemistry of a wet gym sock and a half-empty tube of toothpaste (yeah, I went there).  

So "I Ain't a Judas" ain't a classic episode of The Walking Dead.  But if trends continue, the next episode could be.  I suspect that "Clear" could be the one featuring The Governor, tank(s), and a lot of guns.  Sounds like an intriguing combination to me.  It should also be interesting to see what role Tyreese and his people will play as those events unfold.  And there was no Rick crazy stuff in this episode, so we can probably look forward to a little bit of that in "Clear" as well.  So be there or get your head bitten off. Until next week, Walking Dead-ites!

Movie Review - Justice League: Doom

  Justice League: Doom (2012)

Director: Phillip Noyce

Starring: Kevin Conroy, Tim Daly, Susan Eisenberg

The DC Animated Universe has been one of the most consistent sources of entertainment for me since childhood.  As a kid, I always rushed home after school to watch Batman: The Animated Series.  It was because of Batman: TAS that I first fell in love with the character of Batman.  As the years progressed, that show gave rise to other brilliant series like Batman Beyond and Justice League.  All of these shows were excellent, and to me remain the quintessential non-comic book depiction of the DC Universe superheroes (yes, even over the Christopher Nolan movies.  The Dark Knight series is incredible, but Christian Bale's Batman never intrigued me the way Kevin Conroy's does).

At first, the movies of the DCAU lived up to the indelible legacy of the television series' which inspired them. At the time of its release (1993), Batman: Mask of the Phantasm was considered by many to be greatest Batman film ever made, and that case can be made even today.  The more recent Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker was another superior effort by Paul Dini and Bruce Timm, the men largely responsible for the DCAU.  Movies set in the DCAU used to be few and far between, but that hasn't been the case since 2007.  That year, the DC Universe Animated Original Movies initiative was established, and three to four movies set in the DCAU have come out each year since.

The results have been somewhat mixed, and perhaps that was unavoidable.  When the movies were coming out only every few years, there was no doubt more attention and care given to each project.  That approach has given way to a deluge of straight-to-video DVDs released with factory-like efficiency.  The fact that Timm and Dini are less directly involved with the process these days could have something to do with the decline in quality as well.  Whatever the reason, the results have been largely underwhelming.  Occasionally, a great movie like Batman: Under the Red Hood will slip through the cracks, but most of the DCAU films to come out since '07 have been forgettable ones like Green Lantern: Emerald Knights.  Unfortunately, Justice League: Doom falls into that latter category.

Doom comes across mostly as a wasted opportunity.  The comic storyline it draws inspiration from, JLA: Tower of Babel, is one of the most beloved of all-time.  And the concept is an instantly attention-grabbing one:  In case any member of the Justice League goes rogue, Batman has created a highly specific contingency plan to take them down.  Of course, those plans are stolen by villains and mayhem ensues.  In the comic, Tower of Babel is a richly layered story with excellent characterization and tons of unforgettable moments.  In Doom, it feels like a mediocre episode of the early-2000s Justice League animated series.  As always with the DCAU productions, the animation and voice acting are solid.  But the story is simply too diluted to truly entertain. There is no sense of real danger for the JLA at any point, and the tension between the members isn't sold effectively.

I understand that Justice League: Doom is a direct-to-video movie intended for a younger audience, but that isn't any excuse for the creators to cut corners as they have here.  The previously mentioned Batman: Under the Red Hood operated under constraints, but still managed to be a great movie.  I couldn't help but think what may have been had the makers of Doom not viewed it as simply an opportunity to cash in on the consumer recognition of the Tower of Babel story arc from the comics.  If they had taken time to establish the characters and their relationships, and to really put them in peril.  And tried to demonstrate some growth for those characters and relationships throughout the story as well.  If they had, the film may have even clocked in a bit longer than the embarrassingly short seventy-seven minute running time it currently sports. As it is, the film is simply mediocre.  Easy to look at, but ultimately vacant.  And I hope not at all a sign of things to come for the DCAU.

Verdict: 4/10

Walking Dead - Season 3, Episode 10 "Home"

"Home" is a fairly strong episode of Walking Dead, but it ultimately feels a little rushed.  Some situations I was convinced would take several episodes to unfold come to a head resoundingly in this episode.  That sort of scripting does keep the show unpredictable, but I wonder whether more of a slow burn might have been effective in this case from a story perspective (not that I want to things to return to the banana slug-like pace of parts of season 2). 

I expected the The Adventures of Merle and Daryl to last at least a few episodes, and I was disappointed when the brothers returned to prison at the end of this episode (with impeccable timing, of course) because I think a few episodes on the road with those two could have provided some valuable enlightenment into the nature of their relationship.  There was some vague hints about a history of abuse involving the Dixon family but, as I alluded to earlier, that revelation felt a little too rushed.  Another story line that I haven't been a fan of that could have used some more time in the slow cooker was the one involving Glenn and Maggie.  

Maggie is a character I haven't particularly enjoyed since her introduction into the Walking Dead, although she has served to give the Glenn character a little more depth, which is fine.  But the plot involving a rift between the two after The Governor has violated Maggie should have been given more time to develop, or excluded altogether.  As is stands, the two are seen cuddling at the end of the episode, things seemingly resolved for no real reason before it was even entirely clear what the dispute was about.

The Governor and his crew also begin their assault on the prison in this episode, something I expected last episode, but when it didn't happen, I assumed would be left for much later in the season.  Just last episode, The Governor seemed a broken, shell of a man (with obvious parallels to Rick), but in "Home" he is wielding an assault rifle gleefully as if nothing happened.  I understand that this may be an effort to underscore the duplicity of The Governor, but some hint of his true intentions (perhaps over the course of an episode or two?)  during all this would have made the transformation seem more genuine   

Other developments during this episode include Michonne having become a full-fledged member of the gang, despite numerous assertions to the contrary by Rick just last week.  Of course, it's obvious that Rick isn't exactly calling the shots in "Home" (we'll talk about that later), but some sort of scene explaining her sudden inclusion into the group would have been nice.  Elsewhere, Tyreese and company are nowhere to be seen, ostensibly filing their nails and twirling their thumbs amidst the chaotic and violent sequence that closes the episode. 

That last sequence proves to be the saving grace of "Home" for me.  I've stated before that Walking Dead does action best, and the shootout in "Home" ranked among the best in the history of the series.  Luckily, there should be more of that to come.  But with season 3 hurtling to its inevitable conclusion, the show would be wise to take it's time.  Of course, if the showrunners need to make more time, they should consider cutting all future scenes that involve Rick trudging through the forest looking for dead people.  The idea of Rick cracking a bit with everything he has faced is a good one, but Lori was an unpopular character who no one wants to see return, and Rick chasing dead people around all episode is giving me far too many Lost flashbacks for comfort.